Photo: Future7Media
The penultimate day of the 2025 FIM International Six Days Enduro (6DAYS Italia) in Bergamo belonged once again to Italy’s Andrea Verona, who extended Italy’s overall lead with another commanding performance.
Spain’s Josep Garcia kept the pressure on but couldn’t quite close the gap, leaving Verona on the brink of victory heading into the final day.
In the Women’s Trophy, American Brandy Richards maintained her perfect record, but Australia bounced back strongly to reclaim second overall thanks to determined rides from Danielle McDonald and Jessica Gardiner.
The Junior Trophy also delivered plenty of drama, with France clawing back time on leaders Italy while Australia’s Kyron Bacon stormed to the individual win for the day, lifting spirits in the green and gold camp.
As rain finally arrived late in the afternoon and with heavy showers forecast overnight, conditions are set to play a decisive role on Day Five, with titles still up for grabs across the classes.
Sweden moves up to second in the World Trophy competition
For Italy, Day Four was all about building on what they had achieved so far. Throughout the day’s seven special tests, the Italians extended their advantage from four minutes to six minutes and thirty seconds by the time they returned to the race paddock for the end-of-day service.
The biggest change in running order in the World Trophy competition saw Sweden overhaul France for second position. The Swedes chipped away at France’s advantage during the early part of the day, and as they exited the fourth special test, they had worked their way in front. They head into the penultimate day of racing, twenty-three seconds ahead of France in third.
“It’s been a great day for us today,” said Sweden’s Mikael Persson. “We were all riding strong and could pass France in the battle for second. We will try to keep going like this tomorrow.”
There was no change in the remainder of the top five, with Spain holding fourth and building their lead over the United States in fifth to one minute. Australia are sixth, but only forty-three seconds behind the United States to ensure the fight for a place inside the top five remains alive.
Outside of the top six, Great Britain continued to hold onto seventh overall.
“We’ve been a little bit on the back foot starting out this year due to our overall placing from last year,” said Great Britain’s Dan Mundell. “Each day has been a bit up and down. The racing has been so tight, at times with only ten seconds separating ten riders. But we’ll keep digging deep and try to finish out the week as best we can.
France Keep Junior Trophy Hopes Alive
Italy continue to lead overall, but France once again topped the Junior World Trophy on Day Four. They overtook Australia for second and closed within thirty seconds of Italy at one stage, before Italy responded to rebuild their margin to one minute. France still secured the day win.
Australia had plenty to celebrate though, with Kyron Bacon putting in an impressive performance to win the Junior individual classification. Bacon was thrilled to finally put together a smoother ride, saying “Day 4 was a lot smoother, kept it off the ground and rode pretty consistently all day! Still not satisfied with my riding on the slick grass tests, but pumped to finish the day in 7th overall and P1 in Juniors!”
The United States and Spain battled for fourth, with the Americans regaining the position late in the day to carry a twelve-second advantage into Day Five.
Behind them, Chile sit sixth, followed by defending champions Sweden in seventh.
Arvid Modin said it was a nice day, with new tests helping him after struggling in the Cross Tests. He added that the team also had a better day and is learning together, especially as it is Alfons Lindström’s first time at the event.
Richards Leads the Women, Australia Fight Back
American Brandy Richards again set the standard in the Women’s category, continuing her unbeaten run of daily wins at the event. But Australia showed real grit, regrouping after a difficult start to the week.
Danielle McDonald was upbeat about her performance, explaining, “A solid day for the team and I, we made up some solid time and put ourselves back into second place in the team overall standings and third for me today!”
Veteran Jessica Gardiner described it as a challenging day: she suffered four crashes across two tests, damaged her brakes in Test 3 and had to nurse the bike to the finish, but regrouped to ride well in the afternoon.
“Solid day as a team today gathering some half-decent times together to climb our way back into second in teams!” Gardiner said, “I had an average day with 4 crashes in 2 tests…Got proper pumped in test three with my brakes jamming on due to my first crash damage and did a bit of a Chase Sexton repeat crash episode 3x over till I could nurse it to the finish of that test. Making myself a little bit extra bike work today, regrouped and rode well the rest of the day. Rain held off today although clouds have now opened up. Going to be a wet day 5, delayed start times and only 4 tests to try and circulate on. 80-100mm of rain from now till tomorrow arvo”
With McDonald and Gardiner combining well, Australia moved back into second in the Women’s World Trophy standings and will fight with the United States for the runner-up spot behind Richards’ dominant American team.
Day Four win for Verona, but injury for Garcia
In the outright individual classification, Day Four resulted in Italy’s Andrea Verona finally getting a win. The Italian was on a mission, taking four of the day’s seven special tests. However, it was the injury of Josep Garcia that had many talking.
The Spaniard, who currently leads the way, suffered an injury to his right hand on the second special test. Despite obvious pain and discomfort, he was able to finish a remarkable four seconds behind Verona in second.
“Day Four has been good,” told Verona. “I rode the first three tests really well, but I didn’t ride the fourth one very well because I forgot where I was going! After that I recovered and finished strong. Today, I felt like I had more grip and confidence to push a little more. So I’m happy with this, and with a repeat of tests tomorrow, I hope for another good result.”
Behind Verona and Garcia, it was another strong day for Sweden’s Mikael Persson, who finished in third. Italy’s Samuele Bernardini ended his day two seconds behind Persson in fourth, with Sweden’s Albin Norrbin taking fifth to help cement a strong Day Four for the Swedes.
Soldering on through injury, Garcia showed remarkable resilience to win the Enduro1 class and maintain his overall lead in the category. Persson was second, with Bernardini third.
Thanks to his overall victory, Verona claimed the Day Four win in the Enduro2 class. Norrbin chased him home for second, while Australia’s Kyron Bacon beat the United States’ Jonathan Girroir by one second to take third.
The Enduro3 class saw France claim a one-two result with Julien Roussaly this time taking victory over Leo Le Quere. In the fight for third, Italian’s Kevin Cristino beat Australia’s Josh Strong by just four-hundredths-of-a-second.
The Women’s category saw the United States’ Brandy Richards return to the top of the leaderboard. She took the win by ten seconds over her teammate Korie Steede. Another top-three ride by Australia’s Danielle McDonald saw her finish in third.
MC Italia A lead the way in Club Team Award
In the Club Team Award class, the top three positions remain unchanged, with MC Italia A still leading the way over Team Rabaconda and BBM – Racing Time in second and third, respectively. Gottbros Team continue to lead the Veteran Club Team, with Motosport Bozkov 2 and Team Canada – Veteran completing the top three. Randy Mastin Memorial leads the Women’s Club Team.
| World Trophy Team Standings after Stage Four | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1st | Italy | 9:37’50.45 |
| 2nd | Sweden | +6’30.75 |
| 3rd | France | +6’54.01 |
| 4th | Spain | +11’20.38 |
| 5th | United States | +12’20.50 |
| 6th | Australia | +13’03.30 |
| 7th | Great Britain | +24’49.73 |
| 8th | Finland | +28’09.47 |
| 9th | Chile | +29’34.26 |
| 10th | Austria | +41’55.29 |
| Overall Top 20 after Stage Four (Standings) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Rider | Cl. | Nat | Man. | Time/Gap |
| 1st | Josep Garcia | E1 | ESP | KTM | 2:21’15.07 |
| 2nd | Andrea Verona | E2 | ITA | GAS | +34.28 |
| 3rd | Samuele Bernardini | E1 | ITA | HON | +2’56.84 |
| 4th | Mikael Persson | E1 | SWE | TRI | +3’18.18 |
| 5th | Morgan Lesiardo | E1 | ITA | TRI | +3’35.70 |
| 6th | Leo Le Quere | E3 | FRA | TM | +4’08.13 |
| 7th | Julien Roussaly | E3 | FRA | SHER | +4’15.50 |
| 8th | Albin Norrbin | E2 | SWE | FANT | +4’24.08 |
| 9th | Kyron Bacon | E2 | AUS | KAW | +4’44.96 |
| 10th | Jonathan Girroir | E2 | USA | KTM | +4’54.95 |
| 11th | Kevin Cristino | E3 | ITA | FANT | +5’00.23 |
| 12th | Hugo Blanjoue | E1 | FRA | HON | +5’18.76 |
| 13th | Sergio Navarro | E2 | ESP | HUSQ | +5’34.83 |
| 14th | Daniel Milner | E2 | AUS | KTM | +5’37.13 |
| 15th | Max Ahlin | E2 | SWE | KTM | +5’39.25 |
| 16th | Manolo Morettini | E2 | ITA | HON | +5’43.35 |
| 17th | Josh Strang | E3 | AUS | BETA | +5’46.39 |
| 18th | Dante Oliveira | E2 | USA | KTM | +5’47.20 |
| 19th | Grant Davis | E2 | USA | KTM | +5’47.30 |
| 20th | Leo Joyon | E1 | FRA | BETA | +5’56.71 |
| Junior World Trophy After Stage Four – Top 10 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1st | Italy | 7:22’28.46 |
| 2nd | France | +59.79 |
| 3rd | Australia | +1’53.16 |
| 4th | United States | +11’03.45 |
| 5th | Spain | +11’15.26 |
| 6th | Chile | +17’15.01 |
| 7th | Sweden | +19’34.69 |
| 8th | Great Britain | +28’28.03 |
| 9th | FIM Europe | +40’26.92 |
| 10th | Slovenia | +40’42.85 |
| Women’s World Trophy – Stage Four Results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1st | United States | 8:24’16.02 |
| 2nd | Australia | +31’17.49 |
| 3rd | France | +32’23.81 |
| 4th | Italy | +45’11.41 |
| 5th | Great Britain | +1:00’45.02 |
| 6th | Canada | +1:35’57.06 |
| 7th | Slovakia | +1:46’02.03 |
| 8th | Chile | +5:30’14.13 |
| 9th | Germany | +9:03’39.52 |
